The Debate Dog That Didn’t Bark

The final Republican faceoff was notable for what didn’t happen, the classic Sherlock Holmes clue of the dog that didn’t bark in the night.

Neither the moderator nor Santorum’s opponents pressed him to explain his positions on religious issues that have been making headlines, so extreme that even Rush Limbaugh concedes he must answer because they make him look like “an absolute religious nut and wacko.”

But none of the debate dogs barked on the subject as they went at him on government spending and earmarks.

Santorum was asked about contraception but not Satan. He gave waffling answers about his votes to fund Planned Parenthood as well as a short speech about young poor women having babies that sounded as if it were leading to an argument for birth control but ended as an endorsement of abstinence and family values.

CNN’s John King may have still been traumatized after being mugged by Newt Gingrich at a previous debate, but why did the others hold back?

Are you serious? How could any of the candidates go after another one for being TOO religious with the current group of voters dominating the GOP primaries. You can’t be too over the top. You know how easy it would be in front of a GOP debate crowd to walk back that statement, throw in a few lines about how God is what makes America great and helped found us, stand back to absorb the thunderous applause even though you haven’t said a thing, and watch whoever dared to question your faith shrivel into a prune right there on stage.